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Hantavirus live updates: WHO hunts for source of virus
The overall public risk remains low, the WHO said.
The total number of confirmed and probable cases of hantavirus of those who were onboard the MV Hondius cruise ship stands at 10, including two people confirmed to have died from the virus and one person who remains suspected to have died from the virus.
No cases of Andes hantavirus have been confirmed in the U.S. The eighteen American ship passengers are being monitored at the quarantine unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Key Headlines
- 2 cruise ship passengers originally in Atlanta now at Nebraska quarantine facility
- Suspected hantavirus case at upstate New York high school, not linked to cruise ship
- US has no cases of Andes hantavirus
- WHO hunts for hantavirus source
- American doctor who initially tested positive says further testing shows 'no evidence that I've had hantavirus'
What is hantavirus and how does it spread?
Here's what you need to know about hantavirus including what it is, how it spreads, how it's treated and if there are any prevention methods:
What is hantavirus?
Hantaviruses are a family of viruses that can cause serious illnesses and death, according to the CDC.
How does hantavirus spread?
Hantaviruses may also spread from person to person, but that also is rare and only suspected for one subtype from South America, according to the WHO.
Read more about hantavirus here.
American doctor who initially tested positive moved from isolation after negative test
Dr. Stephen Kornfeld, who identified himself as the first American who initially tested positive for hantavirus from samples taken on the cruise ship, has now tested negative in subsequent testing, he told ABC News.
The testing was originally listed as inconclusive per the World Health Organization because of a positive and negative test result returned from a Dutch lab. Health officials had proceeded with caution and labeled him as a positive case.
Kornfeld was moved from the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit to the National Quarantine Unit, alongside his fellow passengers, according to a statement from Nebraska Medicine.
-ABC News' Youri Benadjaoud and Vera Drymon
CDC retesting American passenger who contracted virus
Officials with the U.S. Centers or Disease Control and Preventionupdated the public on the hantavirus situation and reiterated the risk to the U.S. population remains low.
Dr. David Fitter, the incident manager for CDC’s hantavirus response, told reporters in a telephone news conference that the agency has over 100 staff working full time on the outbreak.
Dr. Brendan Jackson, the CDC team lead in Nebraska where some of the U.S. passengers of the MV Hondius are quarantining, said that the one passenger who tested positive did his tests abroad but they were inconclusive.
"We got a positive and a negative abroad, so we want to redo the test here in the U.S.," he said.
The CDC is awaiting the results of that new test, Jackson said.
-ABC News' Eric Strauss
American in quarantine gives video update
Jake Rosmarin, one of the American cruise patients currently quarantining in Nebraska, provided an update on his Instagram page Wednesday.
On his third day of quarantine at the National Quarantine Unit, Rosmarin showed off his thermometer used to take his temperature, his breakfast and his daily routine.
"One thing I really want to emphasize is how kind everyone here has been. The staff truly want to make sure we are as comfortable and cared for as possible during all of this. They even asked me what Starbucks I’d want and said they were hopefully going to get one delivered to me again today," he wrote in the post.
-ABC News' Matt Foster
American doctor who tested positive speaks out from quarantine
Dr. Steve Kornfeld, a physician who was onboard the MV Hondius and stepped in when the ship's physician contracted the virus, opened up about his own quarantine in Nebraska.
Speaking to CNN, Kornfeld talked about being in the biocontainment unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center after he too tested positive for the hantavirus.
After experiencing "night sweats, chills and mild respiratory symptoms, as well as more than two weeks of severe fatigue," he told CNN that he is experiencing no symptoms and is in good spirits.
Kornfeld added that the time is passing quickly and he's spending a lot of time on WhatsApp.